Apparatus [2009]
bass clarinet, cello, & piano [40”]
written for Richard Haynes, Séverine Ballon, and Mark Knoop
further reading
Instrumental Mechanism and Physicality as Compositional Resources [thesis for the MPhil degree at the University of Huddersfield] [September, 2010]
recordings
Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik 2012 Dokumentation-CD. Performed by ensemble hand werk.
performance history
4/15/2022 - contraBAND. Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Boston, MA.
12/1/2014 - ensemble hand werk. Alte Feuerwache. Köln, Germany
11/29/2014 - ensemble hand werk. Hochschule für Musik und Theater. Munich, Germany
5/5/2014 - Echoi. Monday Evening Concerts. Los Angeles, CA
4/30/2014 - ensemble hand werk. Acht Brücken. Köln, Germany
3/8/2014 - ensemble hand werk. Harvard University. Cambridge, MA
2/15/2013 - Dal Niente. Broadcast on 98.7 WFMT. Recording from "The Party".
5/16/2012 - ensemble hand werk. Broadcast on WDR 3. Recording from Wittener Tage performance. Germany.
5/12/2012 - Dal Niente presents "The Party". Redmoon Theater Warehouse. Chicago, USA
4/27/2012 - ensemble hand werk. Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik. Witten, Germany
2/10/2010 - Haynes/Ballon/Knoop Trio. University of Huddersfield. England
video
reactions
"Musical moments happen within split seconds, yet if expanded they portray vast and extensive sound worlds, as if he's compressed a universe of sound in under two minutes. What is left is a fragment of a larger investigation, or inversely, a small cell of what will become a larger organism." -Alejandro Acierto [ Spotlight On: Alejandro Acierto, Clarinet ]
program note
Tongue and reed. Finger and string. The space in between these confronting forces may be small [perhaps microscopic] but it is also incredibly violent and unstable - it suggests an energy the force of which is larger than the space in which it is contained. As this space is at the intersection between a body and an instrument, it is subjected to their continuous mediation upon one another. The instrument is activated by the body; the body is actuated by the instrument. Each force is being mediated through the other, and it is through this unique relationship that the body and the instrument form something else - an apparatus.